Page 122 - Serious Incident Prevention How to Achieve and Sustain Accident-Free Operations in Your Plant or Company

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100 Serious Incident Prevention

A Manager’s Guide to Implementing and Improving Management of
Change Systems provides an in-depth review of systems applicable for both
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small and large facilities. Facilities are encouraged to customize manage-
ment-of-change systems based upon needs and resources. However, experi-
ence indicates that effective systems have several common elements,
including:

Identifying the need for change
Specifying review and approval steps
Conducting appropriate hazard reviews
Taking action to control associated hazards
Obtaining approval and authorization
Implementation of approved changes.

Identification of all planned modifications or replacements not consid-
ered “replacement-in-kind” is a key management-of-change objective. This
requires identifying all planned changes involving items (e.g., equipment,
raw materials, procedures) that deviate from the design specification of the
original item being modified or replaced. Changes that affect design speci-
fications often lead to deviations from the normal output of a process, and
the significance of these potential changes must be closely evaluated prior
to authorizing implementation of a process change.
The identification and review of planned changes provides an opportu-
nity to decide if a proposed change should actually be implemented. The re-
view process also provides the opportunity to identify any actions required
to control unwanted side effects that could occur from the change. The re-
view process must be flexible, and personnel must be trained in determin-
ing the level of evaluation required for a specific proposed change. For
example, a brief review may be fully sufficient to identify the potential con-
sequences for some planned changes, while an in-depth HAZOP (hazard
and operability), or other detailed analysis, may be required for others. The
level and intensity of review is typically a decision made by a designated
line manager, safety professional, or other authorized individual.
In reviewing planned changes, accurately identifying the potential for
undesirable consequences can be very challenging. Effectiveness in con-
ducting reviews varies among individuals due to differences in knowledge
levels, analytical capabilities, and other personal factors. My experience, in
fact, indicates that individuals with truly outstanding analytical skills for
evaluating changes comprise only a small percentage of the workplace. The
variation in individual capability increases the importance of utilizing the
team concept in reviewing planned changes.